


Second Chances

by LittleRedH00ds



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Background Relationships, Multi, Trans Character, Trans Jesse McCree, Trans Reaper | Gabriel Reyes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2020-08-14 08:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20189428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRedH00ds/pseuds/LittleRedH00ds
Summary: Busted by Overwatch, Jesse Mccree thought he had lost everything. Without Deadlock, who was he supposed to be?After spending so much time carving out his identity in rage, blood, and misery he himself had no idea. But, in the middle forming his own gang of misfits, comes Gabriel Reye's who has big plans for this, his newest recruit.





	1. Chapter 1

He knew he was fucked at this point. 

Jesse sat slumped in a metal chair, chain around his waist, and his wrists cuffed to the metal desk in front of him. He glared down his nose at the barren room around him. Jesse could see his own reflection in the one-way glass. His wiry brown hair was grossly matted with dried blood and clumps of dirt. Jesse looked into his own eyes, wild and bruised. 

The door slid open and Jesse bared his bloody teeth.

The man that entered seemed less than threatened by the display. He pulled up a chair and sat down on the opposite side of the table. Even though he was out of his combat gear now, Jesse still recognised him by the large grey hoodie embezzled with a logo on the shoulders. This man had arrested Jesse. He pulled out a tablet, reviewing some slate of information.

“Let’s start with names, shall we? I’m Gabriel Reyes, I’ll be dealing with your case.”

The man leaned forward, waiting patiently for Jesse to speak but the bloody teen didn’t utter a word, he stayed silent, glaring across the table.

Gabriel nodded like this had been a response to his question. “I hope you realise that we can identify you, and we will, with other methods. I just find that rather impolite. Call me old-fashioned, I prefer verbal question and answer kind of deals.” 

Jesse smirked, bemused by the candidness. He was fucked at this point, there was no way he could get in a worse spot. Jesse had seen the Overwatch logos on the agents that detained him. He knew his life depended on how much he could stall this situation.

Jesse put on a methodical, pondering look before returning his eyes to Gabriel. “Jesse. That’s my name.” 

Gabriel seemed relieved as he raised the tablet to type information. “And your last name?” 

“Mccree,” Jesse replied, he relished in Gabriel’s relieved looks, the commander honestly thought he was getting somewhere. 

“And your date of birth, Jesse?” 

Jesse tapped his fingers to the desk and spoke through gritted teeth. “It was yesterday, thanks for your well wishes.” 

This was also not a lie. Yesterday, the day they had been busted by Overwatch, was Jesse’s birthday. He hadn’t planned on doing much at first, but Ashe convinced him. As one of the leaders of Deadlock, it was important for him to embark on some kind of celebration for himself and their gang. 

So, they set fires, they stole, they terrorised locals. Jesse knew some of his friends probably fired shots on people, that’s just how it went. But someone had been ready for this, somehow, Deadlock had been expected. Overwatch ships had descended from the sky, like a wave of doom.

Gabriel didn’t type on his tablet like he had the previous times, his eyes lingered on the boy. “What year were you born, Jesse?”

Jesse knew answering such a question would give away too much. He stayed quiet. 

Gabriel waited, offering Jesse a silent chance to change his mind and reveal himself. But Jesse didn’t. 

“It’s clearly important to you if you don’t feel like telling me.” He typed something, and spoke again, “are you underaged?” 

Jesse instinctively clenched his fists, stupid. That was all Gabriel needed.

He rose from the desk to Jesse’s surprise, he had expected a lot more questions. 

“If you change your mind and want to be honest with me. We’ll talk again. Otherwise, you’re detained here until further notice. The choice is yours, Jesse.” Gabriel turned to the door, he walked slowly. Jesse knew this was all about tact, to make him talk, and he wouldn’t break.

Left on his own again, Jesse gave his handcuffs a shake for a while. The rattling kept him sane, made him feel like he had a chance at getting out; in some weird way.

But not long after Gabriel left, the door opened again. Somebody new entered. Jesse recognised this man only from his picture in posters and news articles. Jack Morrison had only ever looked happy, or sombre in those images. Here in real life, he was furious. He didn’t carry any devices with him. 

“Do you, understand what you’ve done?” Jack said in a low growl. He marched up to the desk but didn’t sit down. Jesse instinctively shrunk back into his seat. Scared as he was, he never stopped running his mouth. 

“Which part.” He spat.

Jack Morrison put both hands on the desk leaning over Jesse, who shrunk even further into his seat. “Killing five of my officers and assaulting another?” 

Jesse nearly hissed, he knew that last one. “You should ask the guy where he put his hands. I warned him.” 

The blonde scoffed, “You warned him, that you would bite his ear clean off?”

“Not in those exact words.” Jesse shuffled in his chains. “Your officers should have thought about coming after me. You’re lucky it was only five of them.” 

Suddenly Jack’s hands gripped the front of Jesse’s shirt, lifting both him and the chair he was chained to, off the ground. Jesse didn’t struggle, he was caught in the older man’s furious gaze. He could see that Jack was boiling with rage, and if not for his being the Strike Commander and his reputation, Jesse felt as if the man would literally rip him to shreds.

“Do you have any idea. How many lives you’ve destroyed?” Jack spat at him. 

“Eye for an eye,” Jesse growled. 

His vision blurred as Jack shook him. Other figures burst into the room in that same second that Jack snapped and separated the pair. Gabriel was there too, his hand on Jack’s chest, moving him away and speaking quietly to him. 

Jesse snarled, he watched how they leaned close, Gabriel whispered in Jack’s ear and placed a soothing hand on his back. Jack’s chest heaved, and the anger drained from his face. 

“No, Gabriel,” Jack said after a long minute. “The answer is no.” He stormed out of the room. 

Gabriel turned back, his eyes met Jesse’s, Jesse sneered at him for good measure.

They stared at each other for a moment, Gabriel’s mouth quirked into a smile. “Nice try kid.” 

Jesse was left alone again for another indeterminant amount of time. He yanked the chain some more, kicked over the chair Gabriel had sat on, he licked the blood on his lip and winced at the taste. 

Finally, Gabriel returned, with stacks of paper this time. He picks up the chair, and sits down, organising the pages in his hands. “I want you to know- the more difficult you make this for us both. The worse things will become.” 

“Are you threatening me?” Jesse hissed, cautiously leaning back in his chair. 

“No. I don’t have to.” Gabriel shuffled through the papers he held. “You see Jesse Mccree. All the world’s databases - that I can look inside, that is, don’t know who you are, as I suspected.” 

Jesse smirked nastily at him, but Gabriel didn’t seem bothered. 

“I wanted to offer you one final chance to reveal yourself. Whatever you want to hide from me I will find out. Whatever you think I don’t know, I already do. Your situation will only get worse if you chose to be cryptic with me.” 

“I’m so scared.” Jesse drawled.

Gabriel placed his papers down on the table, he acted as if Jesse hadn’t spoken “Here are your options, kid. We don’t get a trial for you. This is off the grid, all of it, you’ve already been charged; murder, robbery arson the works, and after you showed zero remorse to the Strike Commander- well- I have no hopes I could get you an appeal. So, here’s what’s on the table for you Jesse. Prison. Maximum security prison. For life.”

The idea of prison gave Jesse the shakes, Gabriel noticed his twitching hands.

“You don’t like the idea of being caged up, do you? It’s not the greatest outcome and personally, I think it would be quite a waste of your talents.”

“My murderous thieving arson talents?” Jesse hissed.

“Exactly.” Gabriel typed something into his tablet and turned the screen to show Jesse.

It was footage from the gunfight where Deadlock had been arrested. The bodycam footage was shaky, the officer filming was standing further up the street moving towards a group, Jesse, cornered by the Overwatch officers. Jesse saw the footage around his own face glitch, he couldn’t hear himself say the words, but he remembered muttering them. Five shots fired; all five officers dropped to the ground. The man with the bodycam shouted and started firing on Jesse who dove behind cover. Gabriel paused the clip.

“I want to know what this is.” Gabriel pointed to the footage.

“I’m a good shot,” Jesse growled back.

He laughed, “A good shot? A good shot would have maybe hit four of those men, at that close a range. A good shot would have landed body shots, not five headshots. You want me to believe within a fraction of a second, using a tiny revolver like yours with that much kickback, you let off five lethal shots? No. I want to know what this is, what did you do to them. Every bullet wound was in near identical placing.” Gabriel indicated the spot on his own face. “Right between the eyes. Don’t you dare insult me by claiming to be just a good shot.”

Jesse shrunk into his chair, sneering, choosing to remain silent. 

Gabriel sighed, dropping his shoulders. “You’re very young, aren’t you?”

After a moment of silence, Jesse shrugged, “I’m old enough.”

“See now I don’t think you are. I think you’ve been avoiding my questions for the entirety of our talks, haven’t you?”

Jesse a little more triumphant smirked at him. “I’ve got nothing to tell you, that’s just how it be.”

Gabriel sighed, “Jesse, there is no point defending people who don’t value you.”

“The hell does that mean?”

Gabriel returned to the papers he placed on the table, “well, all nine of your gangmates had plenty to tell me. They gave pretty embellished confessions really. All of them told me you are a vile boss, who used and I quote, ‘devils eyes’ to force them to do the worst things imaginable to innocent people, for your entertainment. Now, Jesse, I haven’t known you for very long, but you don’t seem like you kill for fun.”

“You don’t know shit about me.” Jesse spat.

“You’re right I really don’t, I’ve given you plenty of chances during our chats to open up, try and save yourself, but you won’t. I’ve had to dig instead. So, I’ll start with, the important bit, the obvious bit. Jesse Mccree isn’t your legally registered name is it?”

“Go to hell.” Jesse hissed; he was bristling in rage.

Gabriel nodded. “Just one moment before I do. Your friend, sorry- girlfriend, Ashe.”

“Is she alright?!” Jesse blurted out. 

Gabriel nodded, “She’s alright enough to spill everything, and then, all the clues made sense.” 

“What clues?” 

Gabriel put his papers aside, he slid his tablet over to Jesse again. On the screen was a video of a room just like this one, but chained behind the desk, Jesse recognised was Ashe. Gabriel hit the play button, and his voice on the tape spoke. 

“-so, you’re telling me that you, Elizabeth, were coerced?” 

Jesse watched, the girl across the table from Gabriel, dab her face with a tissue. “Yes, I was forced! Mccree made me join up with the gang, and us dating too, it’s been like that the last couple years, I couldn’t leave, Mccree would have killed me!” 

Gabriel in the video wrote something down. “And you said Jesse Mccree is not a real person?” 

“No!” Ashe told him. “It’s a cover identity. Her name’s C-” 

Jesse grabbed the tablet, he launched it off the table with such force that it hit the wall, the screen smashed, and the case bent into a broken mess. The audio crackled into unintelligible high-pitched noises before filling the room with silence. 

Gabriel turned through his papers again, undaunted by the outburst. “The transcript from your ride over here with the officer your assaulted-” 

Jesse’s voice was shrill with anger “Don’t-”

“Just let me finish Jesse. I’ll just quickly read through the important part here, you said: ‘don’t fucking touch me there’ the officer said ‘you better not be concealing anything or you’ll be in even more trouble’ you said ‘last warning you pile of dogshit, don’t fucking touch me there.’ He said something, I am not going to repeat here, assumedly after going against your wishes and then, the altercation occurred.”

“I bit off his ear.” Jesse snarled.

“Yes,” Gabriel turned through his papers again “You bit off his ear. This official report concludes that you assaulted the man, unprovoked. Based on what is said here, I disagree.” 

Jesse balled his hands into fists, digging his nails into his palms. “So now what, you know everything? Just send me to prison, or take me out back and shoot me, I don’t fucking care.”

Gabriel folded the pages neatly and put them aside. Jesse stared at him intently. He seemed calm and sincere. 

“There’s a third option.” He pulled out a different set of papers and passed it over to Jesse. Jesse glanced at the text; his eyebrows raised as he read his way through the words he understood. 

“What am I, Annie?” He hissed.

“No Jesse, it’s going to be much, much more complicated than that. You see, I want you in my squad that I’m putting together. And I just about had it all in my pocket until you pissed off the Strike Commander ever so smartly. But at that time, we were assuming you were a legal adult like your friends. So, here’s what I will be doing. Adoption. I adopt you; everything changes. We’re talking about undermining my bosses- in order to give you diplomatic immunity. It keeps you here, I get you into my squad, we utilise your unique talents, everybody wins.”

Jesse was stunned into silence, Gabriel continued, 

“Look, you don’t want to let me in, but I can see you’re trying to go out from this like some legendary mob boss, withholding your identity, your age, your gang information. All your little antics may seem noble and brave now, but it’s all going to come crashing down so hard and so fast when you’re in that kind of lockup. Do you understand me? I can’t make you talk. My bosses want to send you to prison to break you, and then forget about you. We are talking about maximum security. The best Overwatch can do. This is a place for international terrorists, illegally enhanced individuals, the most violent murderers on the planet. Jesse, you have done wrong, you’re a rough kid. I don’t think you fit into any of those categories. Do you?”

“But I have killed people.” Jesse clenched his fists and the chains rattled across the metal desk. Gabriel had a sharp eye for his movements.

“You have. But you have the potential to kill the right people. With me. In this team I’m putting together.”

“I’m not a soldier” Jesse spat.

“My squad isn’t for soldiers. Unfortunately, once these papers are signed this becomes non-negotiable.”

“Why’s that.” Jesse looked down, ‘Granted custody of’ stuck out aggressively on the page.

“As your legal guardian. You’re a minor. I will have full authority to make you do whatever. It’s no longer up for debate; you’re going to be a part of Blackwatch.”  
“I’m not a-"

“Not a minor? That will be strike three Jesse. We apprehended you on your seventeenth birthday. Ashe giving over your previous names, allowed me to find documentation, birth certificates everything on you. As you have no legal guardians, I could find mention of, and with your track record well, it would be just irresponsible of me to send you anywhere else. Rest assured we will have your name changed and anything else you need.” 

Jesse tilted his head to the side. “You can’t win me over by pretending to be compassionate about me.”

“Call it whatever you want kid. Truthfully, I understand better than anyone what you’re going through.” Gabriel shot him this look, and for a moment Jesse did feel assured, understood. 

“I wanted to see what you were truly made of, and despite you killing agents, pissing off my fiancé, refusing to help me at every turn and just being- well- a general little shit. You’re made of strong stuff and you have all the potential to grow into a great man. Know this. Second chances do not grow on trees but I am putting everything on the line to give you this. I sign these papers, and we’re in this for the rest of our lives. I can’t get you cleared of your charges, I can’t put you into a normal life, but I don’t think you want that. You want to fight; you want to lie, cheat, and steal. You know prison is a cage that’s going to grind you up until there is nothing left. Somewhere, in your vapid little brain, I know you’ve thought this all through over and over while I’ve been talking. Blackwatch, or prison. Realistically I’m not going to force you. But I am begging, do the single smart thing and make the right damn choice.”

Gabriel took the adoption papers and put them away. “Whatever you decide. Know that the officer who touched you and used inappropriate language has been dishonourably discharged. I don’t tolerate that sort of behaviour on my team.”

“Then you won’t like me in there.” Jesse shot back with a nasty smirk. 

Once again Gabriel seemed completely unbothered, but he smiled at the remark. “I’m sure we’ll do just fine with you Jesse; I don’t accept mediocrity. You have a lot of talent; so, you won’t be getting through this without pulling up your big boy pants and putting all the effort in. Are we clear?”

Jesse glared at the man, who smirked like he had won whatever game they were playing. 

Jesse leaned back in his seat, “What if I don’t?” 

“If you don’t? You’re going to wish I sent you straight to prison.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse Mccree is (maybe) going to stay at Overwatch for the foreseeable future. Is he happy about that? Not really. Does he have a plan? Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Here I am back with a new chapter, I'm sorry it took so long, university kicked my butt but I'm really invested in this story and I hope to post more and better, especially since Overwatch 2 was announced while I was writing this chapter! 
> 
> I really hope to run parallel to cannon if they'll stick to...who knows, hopefully, I don't get flipped off track by any future lore updates...again XD
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

The next few days for Jesse were a total blur. Gabriel helped him get removed from the interrogation room, treated, cleaned up, supplied new clothes, and placed into a barracks near his own apartments. The two windows in Jesse’s new room were barred. Motion-activated clickers monitored his movements between his room and the rest of the barracks to make sure he wasn’t up to no good. It wasn’t a camera, but Jesse felt invaded with every step he took.

He’d only been on the base for a week. On one particular day, Gabriel warned Jesse to be well washed and comb his hair; so that he could bring him to a meeting with his bosses. When they arrived, Jesse noticed Jack sitting among the panel of officials. The Strike Commander meet his curious gaze with one of quiet seething rage. Jesse wanted to smile back, egg on Jack’s anguish with him. But he felt Gabriel’s glare against his back. If he didn’t behave in front of these people, there was nothing Gabriel could do to keep him out of prison. They quietly took their seats.  
A woman, seated opposite them, sat forward and spoke to Gabriel. “So, this is the criminal I’ve been hearing so much about.” 

Jesse had barely opened his mouth before he felt a kick under the table. He paused to look over at Gabriel who instantly started talking. 

“Yes, this is Jesse Mccree. We apprehend him on the Deadlock raid, which was a very successful endeavour-" 

“People died, Commander Reyes.” Jack Morrison said, “That is not what I call a success.” 

Jesse watch Gabriel’s brow twitch and his mouth quirked briefly into a frown. That was practically a flinch coming from him. 

“And moreover, you’ve filed an adoption for this - boy?” Another member of the table asked over Jack. 

“I have,” Gabriel said slowly, casting Jesse a brief look. “We both fulfil the requirements for adoption, he’s a child.” 

“And yet,” Jack interjected again, “You’ve bypassed multiple state laws to adopt a criminal, underaged or not. I want you, Commander Reyes, to offer this council one good reason as to why we should believe that this adoption is a good idea.” 

Gabriel took a deep breath. “I can’t force you to believe me. But I can present to you the facts of the situation. You’ve already pointed it out yourself, Jesse is a minor. Almost everyone else in his little gang is much older than him, yet he’s clearly the leader. I thought that seemed a little bit fishy, for them to be following the orders of a child, someone much younger and less experienced than them, for so long. Deadlock as far as we’ve discovered, has been active for the past three years. That means Jesse was only - fourteen or fifteen years old when it began.

The committee seemed to nod and consider this. Jesse scrunched up his nose, but he knew Gabriel wanted him to stay silent. Jack still looked impartial. “Make your point Commander Reyes.”  
“Each Deadlock member told me Jesse was the root of it all,” Gabriel flared out his hands dramatically, “The nastiest, cruellest of them. They also informed me that he has devils’ eyes. He’s marked.” 

Jesse averted his eyes as the council stared at him. 

Gabriel continued. “Would any of you, follow the instructions of a child without very good reason? I certainly wouldn’t, unless, as they claim. He’s special.”

“In what way do you mean?” Jack questioned. 

They had prepared for this. Gabriel sent a short clip to the projector to play. It showed Jesse standing on the shooting range, the footage glitched, he heard himself whisper the words and fire off six shots. Jesse put the gun down and the camera focused in on each target, all perfect headshots dead centre. 

“This is not normal.” Gabriel said, pausing the video on the zoomed-in targets. “Not even a master gunman could shoot the scores that Jesse has achieved. I haven’t taught him a thing, and he’s able to do this with any firearm provided.” Gabriel hit play again to show the next clip was Jesse with a shotgun, then a rifle, then a prototype weapon that fired bolts of electricity. Each time the video zoomed in on his perfect targets, Jesse watched the council ‘hmm’ and ‘ahh’ in surprise. 

“The documentation is all there if you want to look at it. Jesse has taken the highest scores in all firearm tests on the range. He’s even topped yours Jack.” Gabriel’s nod to the blonde seemed to only make the Strike Commander angrier, but they had to lay it on thick for the committee. Jesse’s talents were - supernaturally good and the more they realised just what Gabriel had uncovered, the closer he was to an effortless approval.

Gabriel paused the video on one of Jesse’s shots. The footage around his face was glitched. As they suspected the woman on the panel cleared her throat. 

“Excuse me.” She said, interrupting Gabriel’s praises. “What exactly is happening when he fires? With the video quality?” 

Gabriel smiled at her question; he’d been waiting for it. “It’s hard to say for sure, the phenomena Jesse performs is only observable with the eye. I have been unable to catch it in reference, but the scores speak for themselves. What I do know is that it is a kind of talent we’ve never seen here before.” 

“Has any further research been carried out?” The man sitting beside Jack asked.

“We’ve sent Jesse in for an eye test.” Gabriel closed the video to project the test results onto the screen. Jesse had never had an eye test done in his life and he hoped it would only be the one. He didn’t exactly know what the slide said, but again, the council seemed impressed.

“His vision is perfect. The doctor reported no anomalies in either of his eyes. We have had resident doctors examine him, post using the ability to fire a gun. His right pupil looks visibly abnormal to both me and the doctor, but it still seems to behave normally. Jesse notices no difference to his vision.”

“Is this dangerous to us?” Jack interjected, shooting Jesse a glare. “We don’t know what he or his ability is capable of.” 

Gabriel nodded “I hear your concerns commander; Jesse – is now away from his old life and he has been nothing but cooperative with me. He’s not been formally trained but he has true an honest potential, with the right environment-” 

Jack raised his hand, cutting Gabriel off. “I hear you commander,” he retorted back. “I want to hear it from him.” 

Silence filled the room as all eyes turned to Jesse.

They had prepared for this too. Jesse quietly got to his feet, under Gabriel’s watchful eyes, and cleared his throat.

“I understand how I must look to you, Commander Morrison.” Jesse began, in the most earnest voice he could manage. “I’ve done you, and others a lot of unnecessary harm. I know that don’t look good.” 

Just like Gabriel had informed him, Jack seemed almost taken aback by the remorse, however, he maintained a stern gaze. “As you’re the leader of Deadlock, I just find it hard to believe you maintain this story of being fully coerced.” 

Jesse took a purposeful, shaky breath. “With all due respect sir. Have you lived out along anywhere like Route Sixty-Six? Post-crisis?”

“No,” Jack said sharply. “Make your point.” 

“Like a lot of places post-crisis, it’s do or die. I lost my dad when I was a kid; we, that’s my ma, pa, and me, struggled to support our farm. After my dad was killed, it only got worse. Couldn’t pay ranchers, can’t feed the animals, can’t even get good clean water out that way sir. Not to mention you gotta stay protected from any gangs or rouge metal monsters that roll through, they kill livestock and leave you to die. Gangs did roll through, while I was working odd jobs, stealing, or hunting. I guess people liked to gossip, or trade info. Some of these guys heard about my eye. Ashe included. Out there - like Reyes said; they call it the dead eye. There’s a bunch of stories where I’m from that says the devil himself will come to take a look at newborn babies. He’ll come at the witching hour and take a look into their crib. If a baby looks the devil in the eyes, then he takes away some of that baby’s immortal soul. Replaces it with the cursed eye, so that you know he’d been there. You look at someone with it, and they die.”

“That’s a very colourful explanation,” Jack said passionlessly. “What’s the truth.” 

“To be totally honest with you Commander Morrison, I don’t know for sure. I know I can call upon the will to make the kill shots that I make. People have just always called that a curse. I was sought out by some of the degenerates y’all arrested. My curse, my dead eye - or whatever I got, has always been perceived with awe. I must have been thirteen or fourteen at that time they pulled me into all this. I didn’t think about repercussions. I thought about the money I’d be able to send home to my ma to get us out of poverty, to stop all the cattle from dying. I was so good at killing. Ashe and I decided to start our own gang, we were young, and I was so greedy...” 

The man next to Jack turned through some papers, loudly interrupting Jesse’s story. “Yes, well, Elizabeth tells a very different tale about you.” 

Jesse clenched his fists and Gabriel paled before quickly interjecting. “We are aware of areas of conflict between her story and Jesse’s, but I have strong believe Ashe is lying to me.”

“But no proof.” The man retorted.

Gabriel was quiet for a moment. “I want to have her submit to a polygraph at interrogation but the solicitors there at the time strongly refused.”

“Are you calling this poor young woman a liar with no proof?” The man said again. 

“No.” Gabriel said sharply, “but she cannot stick to a consistent narrative like Jesse’s, read the notes, there is proof in her lack of consistency.” 

“Then is this a real person?” The man suddenly said, causing everyone at the table to look alarmed, “Is Jesse Mccree a real identity, or a cover? Where is that proof?” 

Jack seemed almost surprised by the line of questioning. All eyes turned back to Jesse and he shrunk on the spot. Panic and adrenalin flooded into his system; he wanted to cry, scream, break stuff, and run away, all at once. He couldn’t bring himself to say words, he could barely make himself draw in breath. 

Gabriel looked at him, put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Jesse knew what that meant, he focused, and controlled his breathing for a minute. Holding onto the anger as tightly as he could to avoid losing control, but his eye still twitched. 

“Jesse is transgender.” Gabriel said firmly to the council. “His circumstances have prevented a legal name change before this point, and it would appear to me that Elizabeth thinks that by outing him under interrogation she can discredit him. But I consider myself a very good judge of character and as I myself share the same identity as Jesse I can tell you with certainty he is not acting as anyone but himself. I do not appreciate it being brought up aggressively in this manner and if you have further questions, I would encourage them to be sent to me at discretion.” 

Jesse managed to look up. He didn’t know when he had started crying hot angry tears, but he hoped it would help his case. He looked at Gabriel who was making strong eye contact with Jack, the commander seemed to look less angry. 

Jack waved his hand for everyone’s attention and stood up. “I would like to bring this committee to a decision. I file for Commander Reyes’s adoption of Jesse Mccree, and full legal custody to his department, to be approved.” 

Around him were several gasps, but most of them followed suit and agreed with Jack’s motion. 

“Approval has the majority. Jesse is the full responsibility of Gabriel Reyes. But this council would like intensive psych evaluations to be undergone for Jesse and updates on any training progress, or any changes. Do you acknowledge this?” 

Jesse wanted to shout no but Gabriel had warned him ahead of time, they were taking whatever they could get in a deal, as long as Jesse was allowed to stay.

“Yes, I acknowledge this,” Gabriel replied. 

He and Jack seemed to share another look, somewhat understanding, yet argumentative. But Jack cleared his throat and continued, “This meeting is adjourned. There will be a follow up in some months to finalise the presented decisions. Dismissed Commander Reyes.” 

Gabriel quickly nodded, putting a hand on Jesse’s shoulder and escorting him from the room. They were quiet for some distance. It wasn’t till they had returned to the barracks that Gabriel finally spoke. 

“How much of that story was true?” He asked in a low voice, still wary of being overheard.

Jesse had barely opened his mouth before Gabriel knew what he was going to say and cut him off. 

“Don’t give me any smart-ass retort, I don’t mean about being trans, I mean about your life growing up. Is what you said true or were you just inventing a story? I told you to be vague if you needed to lie, and you were too specific. I need to know before it comes back to bite us Jesse.” 

“It’s true.” 

Gabriel made a disgruntled noise, “You could tell that terrifying panel your story, but you couldn’t tell me under interrogation when I had a chance to avoid us the terrifying panel. What the hell kid?”

Jesse shrugged absently. “You told me to be convincing.”

“And I expected you to be a convincing liar.” Gabriel retorted. “You’ve set out to make this hard for me and that’s not going to fly in future.”

Jesse fought the urge to grin. Maybe he was accepting the get out of jail free card. That did not mean he had to play by anyone else’s rules. Of course, Gabriel almost figured this out instantly. But he had no idea being successfully granted those adoption papers would be hell to pay.

Jesse didn’t let Gabriel be suspicious for long. He refused to wake up and get out of bed for training. He practised extreme antisocial tendencies when he had to be in the common areas - not that people wanted to sit around with him anyway. He refused to show up at any medical check and when he was forced to attend his mandated therapy sessions he only spoke in-jokes and outlandishly garish stories.

Gabriel’s inbox was full of emails either complaints or reports about how Jesse was inappropriate and couldn’t be rehabilitated. 

The only person who saw straight through him, apart from Gabriel, was Ana. A sniper, occasional medic, and tactical advisor on base. The medical staff often called her in to deal with Jesse if he had to be there. Even though the infirmary wasn’t any centre point of her job she always showed up. The first day after being inducted into life on base, Jesse, with his bloody nose, had been threatening and upsetting every medical professional who tried to examine him. Ana, was there with her daughter and must have just decided to step in. She had this kind of intense motherly aura. She didn’t force Jesse to accept treatment but every protest he made; she had a rebuttal for. Jesse, in his frustration dared to spit out the word ‘bitch’ under his breath. Ana’s little daughter gasped having heard him say it; her mother slowly turned to face Jesse. Something about her eyes and her tone struck fear into his heart. 

“What did you say?” She asked him calmly, as if it was a normal conversation.

Jesse leaned back in his seat and tried to make the movement look casual, not like he was nervously leaning away from her. 

“Nothin.” 

The little girl was giggling behind her hands. Ana watched him for a further response; Jesse felt like he was about to catch fire under her gaze. 

“I could have sworn I heard you say something Jesse, and really. If you’re going to speak you might as well say it loud enough for others to hear you. Or. Don’t say it at all. Think about that next time, won’t you?” She smiled at him, there was no warmth there, it was a warning.

Jesse’s shoulders were hunched defensively. “Let’s just get this over with already.” 

Satisfied, Ana set about tending to his injuries. Neither of them said another word.

This cemented their relationship. Ana even became Gabriel’s point of call if he was unable to get Jesse to behave. She seemed to always know how to beat him at his own game.

Things ‘at home’ were no better. Jesse lived in his own room at the barracks with a common area and shared bathrooms. Often Jesse would refuse to get out of bed, refuse to shower, or even eat. He avoided putting in effort wherever possible. Gabriel tried to be his friend, then tried to be his parent, in the end, all he could settle into was being a commander, when even that didn’t work things between them got - petty. Gabriel decided his best method of getting Jesse out of bed, was to literally pick him up out of bed. Jesse was too small and untrained; he couldn’t fight back.

“You could fight with some training.” Gabriel tried to encourage. 

Jesse scoffed, he could kill anyone with a gun, who needs to fight.

“You won’t always have a gun,” Gabriel warned.

“Yeah right.” Jesse grumbled

He didn’t cause trouble in vain; Jesse watched his surroundings with careful eyes. Every time he was pretending to be lazy, he was making mental notes, looking for methods to get himself out. Part of him knew that whole train of thought was a terrible idea. Even if he were to make it out of here he would be on the run from Overwatch, probably for the rest of his life, there was no escaping that. Part of him also didn’t give a shit. He had to see Ashe, he had to talk to her, he had to figure things out. 

Gabriel didn’t lock him up, but he kept weapons out of Jesse’s access and checked on him once every hour, sometimes less. It didn’t take Jesse long to understand there was no way for him to escape the base on land, without being detected. There was also the matter of how he would make his getaway when they were isolated. Going on foot wouldn’t get him very far. Even if Jesse managed to steal a car. He couldn’t sabotage every vehicle on base to prevent them from coming after him, they weren’t all parked in the same location, he’d be caught before he could affect many of them. But from what he has managed to see. There was another way.

This particular Overwatch base was right on the coast and had its own jetty with a selection of boats. Jesse hadn’t gotten a great look at the place, but he had seen enough to know a plan might work. 

He started by turning up at training, voluntarily. Gabriel is shocked but happy to see him. He was, of course, a little suspicious too, not suspicious enough to notice Jesse swiping his key card right out of his pocket while they go through drills.

Jesse planned this for the weekend when those who were allowed to go to town did. Those who didn’t have duties took the opportunity to relax and guard details were often light. Jesse knew he was expected at dinner. But everyone, by now, was used to his habits of not turning up and it wouldn’t be alarming if he wasn’t there. He had a short window in which to make this work.

With Gabriel’s key card hidden in his pocket, Jesse sauntered across the base, in the general direction of the jetty. He tried to make it look like he was aimlessly wandering and sneered at anyone who passed by him. Close to his destination, Jesse stopped in front of one of the emergency firearms lockers. From here, he had to move fast. He triggered the emergency alert, alarms blared down the corridor, meaning the locker was accessible. But also meaning Jesse had broadcasted exactly what he was up to.

With his hands shaking in excitement, Jesse chose the first handgun he saw and grabbed spare ammo, he almost dropped the magazine as he loaded it into the well and stowed the extra ammunition in his pocket. Agents would be there soon to see what had happened. 

Jesse ran the rest of the way to the jetty, using Gabriel’s card to get through the access point. He barrelled in with total recklessness. The agents patrolling the room were already on alert with the alarms sounding around them. One person to Jesse’s right looked at him and shouted. “Cadet! Back to your station! This is not-” 

Jesse whispered the words, his eye twitched, and he shot them all dead. He looked towards a well-lit control room, hopefully the boat keys were there, hopefully nobody else was in there. Jesse hurried over; a cold chill ran down his spine as he passed by one of the bodies. He couldn’t help but look into the one eye and the blown-out socket of someone he recognised from around the barracks. Jesse had never shot a person he knew, even by acquaintance, before. Sweat collected on his brow and without warning his stomach aggressively lurched. Jesse bent forward and puked, right next to the body. Vomiting didn’t make the feeling go away, frightened, Jesse wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and hurried to the control room. He didn’t realise he was gasping, still, as he ripped the wall box open and grabbed all the keys inside, only two dozen or so, some being keys and some being lanyards. Jesse ignored the bodies as he walked to a boat, but their presence still loomed around him, blood stuck to his shoes as he passed by. He picked a long speedboat that didn’t seem like it had too many controls. Jesse stepped onboard and dumped all the keys on the floor at his feet, sorting through them until one seemed to work and the boat hummed to life. Jesse looked at his faded bloody footprints wondering about the vessel. The alarms were blaring, they weren’t from the building, they were in his own head. Jesse lurched to the side of the boat and threw up again, over the edge.

When he righted himself and moved back to the helm it took him some messing around to move the boat out from its spot, he almost screamed as he sped out into open water. The hull rose up as he gained speed.

Jesse had never been in anything bigger than a bath; he’d never even seen this much water before coming to Overwatch. Waves lurched the boat from side to side every hit to the hull sounded like a gunshot. Jesse was too scared to head further out to sea, the total unknown, so he kept the shore within sight, hoping to zigzag along the coast far enough and ditch the boat onshore to run. 

Jesse saw Overwatch agents now on the shoreline, actual gunshots were fired on his boat. He had to duck every time they fired, and it slowed down his progress. Frustrated, seasick, Jesse stood as straight and still as he could for a moment and raised the gun. He called on his dead eye for the second time and felt tears, rolling down his right cheek, he wiped them away with his hand, only to notice they were red, blood. The boat lurched and Jesse crouched, putting his hands down hard on his own bloody shoeprints getting it all over his hands. He managed to stand up again, seeing four agents lying in the sand from his distant rocking boat. Jesse’s upset stomach heaved again, right at that moment, a well-timed wave washed over the boat sideways, capsizing it, and tipping Jesse into the ocean. 

Terror flooded him as he hit the water; the railing of the boat lurched into his back, sending ripples of pain through him. The gun was gone from his grip as he tried to desperately paddle amongst the waves, Jesse grabbed onto the side of the boat, cold with terror and gasping for air. He felt another bout of searing pain in his shoulder, worse than when the boat hit him, there was more blood in the water now.

Someone had shot him. 

Another wave envelops Jesse, and the boat pushed him under the water. He clawed at the hull’s smooth surface desperate to stay afloat. He didn’t even feel the second bullet enter into his shoulder his hands had already slipped from the hull. The next wave washed over his head, blanketing him in darkness and cold. He thought he saw her, the person he’d shot at the jetty, one bloody socket and one sharp piercing eye staring down at him from somewhere above. Wishing good riddance.

Jesse felt pain all over as he flickered in and out of consciousness. The florescent lights hurt to look at but faces eclipsed the light. He saw Gabriel’s face, Ana’s, and some of the doctors he frequently terrorised. None of them looked worried. Jesse was almost surprised when he finally woke up. He tried to get out of bed, only to find his hands were cuffed to the arms of the gurney he was lying in. He struggled for a minute but moving sent new stabs of pain through his body. He now recognised the white walls of the infirmary, so he resorted to shouting.

“Hey! I know you fuckers can hear me! What the hell is going on? Hello!” 

Not a doctor or nurse came in. The first person that Jesse saw walking up to his bedside was Gabriel. The commander looked wrung out, tired, new stress had settled into the cresses of his face, forcing him to frown. The commander pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed. 

“Why are you doing this to me Jesse?” Gabriel’s voice was so quiet, Jesse wished he’d just screamed at him. 

“What do you think I’m trying to do to you?” Gabriel asked, he was still met by Jesse’s angry silent treatment and he sat back, at a total loss. “Jesse, I’ve put my job, my relationship, everything I have, on the line for your second chance.”

“I didn’t ask for it!” Jesse screamed at him. He strained against the cuffs like he was angry enough to hit. They both knew he wasn’t. “I had it great. Before you ruined everything!”

Gabriel seemed almost relieved Jesse had broken his silence, even if it was shouting. “Do you want to go to prison like all your despicable friends? Is that what you want?” 

“No!” Jesse cried 

“Then, Christ, kid work with me.” Gabriel pleaded. 

“No.” Jesse hissed. 

Gabriel threw his hands down so forcefully into his own lap that Jesse flinched. He then took a deep breath and stood up. “You make me livid; you know that? You make me livid.” Gabriel’s voice seemed to switch to a cold matter-of-fact tone, it was so sudden Jesse’s stomach did an anxious flip. “I will come back to collect you when I get your discharge paperwork. Sit tight.” 

Gabriel turned quickly and left the room. Jesse didn’t want to feel guilty, but he felt sick to the bone. He was afraid he was going to throw up again. With nowhere to go he’d have to do it in his bedding. The whole situation seemed helplessly cruel. But he had done it to himself. He’d failed to escape and now, was prison back on the cards? He wished Gabriel hadn’t left so suddenly maybe he could have asked him. 

_Do you hate me enough to give up on me?_

A few hours of staring at the ceiling was sending Jesse absolutely insane, with only his own thoughts for company. But the curtain whipped back and there stood Jack, face full rage. Jesse let out a little shocked gasp at the surprise of his sudden appearance. This was starting to feel like his interrogation all over again.

Jack marched up to his bedside, his voice low and shaky. “Do you want to take the news to those families instead of me? Do you want to have nothing but a medal and condolences to give to the grieving loved ones of those you’ve murdered?” 

Jesse watched Jack grip the railing of the gurney till his knuckles were white. Just like his first interrogation, he knew Jack wanted to thrash him but couldn’t. Jesse stayed quiet, letting Jack say what he needs to say. 

“You shouldn’t be here.” Jack growls, “You don’t deserve to be here after how many of my squad you’ve killed. You claimed to feel remorse, but you feel nothing.” He was almost crying; he was so broken up. Jesse was shocked but couldn’t help pushing back. 

“You know exactly who’s to blame” he hissed at Jack. He nearly added dad into his sentence but even he knew that was pushing it too far. He wanted Jack to be so aware his fiancé had bought home a wild animal.

Jack seemed frozen, Jesse wondered if he’d get smacked or shaken like last time, but Jack seemed to have much more self-control. He stepped away from Jesse’s bedside and without another word, he walked calmly towards the door. Jesse watched him pause at the monitoring equipment, looking almost looking tempted by some deep dark frightening urge to pull the plugs on any machines helping Jesse. Jesse was almost disappointed when the Strike Commander walked out without doing anything. He was alone again. Or so he thought.

The curtain on the other side of the bed shifted aside with a soft rustling, and there was the tiny face of Ana’s daughter. 

“What was that about?” She asked, stepping out from her hiding place. She seemed so unafraid of Jesse; probably cause she’d seen her mother verbally bash him so many times. 

Jesse tried to give her the silent treatment but as a small child, she took this as incentive to keep talking.

“He seemed annoyed I don’t think I’ve ever heard him yell like that. My mum normally keeps everyone calm. She’s good like that, she’s great at mediating a situation, I mean you know-”

“Go away,” Jesse growled.

She paused talking but tilted her head to give Jesse a look like her mother would, like she doesn’t have time for his bullshit. “I’m not scared of you.” She assures him, “My mum says you’re just stressed.” 

Jesse barked a laugh. “Yeah, okay sure.” 

She’s pushing his patience like he pushed Jack, it’s karma for him really. 

“Hey...If you’re nice to me I’ll untie you.” The girl promises him.

Jesse gritted his teeth, “You won’t do that.”

“Will you hurt me?” she asked him.

“Yes.” Jesse spat back 

The girl leaned over him, studied his face like she was trying to get a read on his expression. “I don’t think you will.” She says confidently.

Jesse just stares back at her. “Dare you find out?” He growled.

True to her boldness, Fareeah then unlocked the handcuffs for Jesse. He flexed his wrists pondering for that split second. He realised he had to follow through on his threats, or he was going to lose his footing against a child, and nobody would ever fear him in this place.

Jesse fought his sore limbs and pulled himself out of bed, he made a show of tearing off out the monitoring equipment attached to him. The little girl lost a bit if her courage and started backing away. Jesse towered over her as he moved towards her. “I warned you, didn’t I?” He drawled. 

Ana’s little girl knocked some equipment over as she scurried back, it crashed to the floor and she started crying. “Stop it!” She shouted at him. “My mother will be angry with you!” 

Jesse hated himself for it; the power trip he was getting, watching her cry. He was a threat. Everyone on base hated him; but nobody was scared of him. 

Jesse smiled nastily, baring his teeth at her. “Oh? Your mother isn’t here is she?” 

Fareeah screamed at the top of her lungs and bolted for the door. She tripped over her own feet in her hurry and fell down. Jesse didn’t chase her. He didn’t need to. He stood still on the spot, confused by himself. He felt nauseous again.

Gabriel hurried in at that moment, he dropped down by Fareeah’s side and helped her up. She was sobbing. Gabriel put a comforting hand on her shoulder and spoke quietly to her. The sobs slowly quietened into little gurgles as she listened to him and explained that she had let Jesse out of his cuffs. Gabriel looked up at Jesse, his expression beyond disappointment. Jesse expected to get an aggressive telling off for scaring the kid.

Gabriel lead Fareeah to the door and told her to go to Ana, she cast one more frightened look at Jesse, who bared his teeth at her. Off she ran. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes, but he didn’t scold, in fact, he surprised Jesse by what he said.

“Your gang is so important to you. Just remember every single one of your friends blamed you for everything. They don’t care about you. I however, am trying to care about you. Help me.” 

“Help you?” Jesse sneered. “You want me to help you control me. Like I’m a thing, a curse, a monster, a murderer.” 

“You’re doing a great job giving people that impression of you.” Gabriel snapped back. “I’m trying to help you have a life, and you spat in my face Jesse. You think a good use of your time is frightening a little girl. What is wrong with you?” 

“Lots.” Jesse sneered. 

Gabriel shook his head in disbelief. “I remember being a teenager. Wasn’t that long ago, but I don’t remember being this much of a shitbag. No more of this, you’re going to pull your head in and grow up.” 

“Make me.” Jesse mocked. He was smiling still, his stomach still doing nauseous backflips. 

“Okay then. Behave like a baby and I’ll treat you like one. If you can just hold on and not terrorise anyone else while I’m gone. I’ll finish finalising your damn paperwork and we can both leave this place. Sit down and shut up.” 

They stared each other down. But Jesse knew when he’d lost. He made a big show of pulling up a chair, sitting down, and putting his feet up on the bed. “Go then.”

Gabriel huffed but stormed back out to finish the paperwork. Jesse sat patiently, but his mind wandered. He found himself drifting back to a time when he was fourteen. When he had just come out as trans. Usually he stopped these memories, right now, it was the only escape.

_“This is Jesse,” Ashe informed their gangmates sternly. “You will refer to him as Jesse or Mccree, as he, him, or sir. Got me?” _

_Someone in the group snickered. It stung, but before Jesse could say a word. Ashe had her gun in her hand, aimed it at the man’s foot, and fired. _

_“This is Jesse.” She snarled at the guy while he lay on the ground sobbing over the bloody mess of his leg. “So, for that. The rest of y’all will be giving my boyfriend, Jesse, your months’ worth of take. Right now. Or else I’ll aim higher next time.” She’d shot the ground at the feet of the others to make her point and Jesse has been awarded handfuls of loot. Even a few promised him they would never say a word against him or who he was. She, Ashe, was the biggest advocate for him. If anyone even so much as looked at him wrong, she would kill them._

But it was all a lie. The invasive voice in Jesse’s mind told him. He remembered listening to Ashe’s confession, how she had outed him. His eyes stung with tears as reality hit him. He’d felt so loved by her once, so assured to be himself because of her. She’d been his biggest supporter. She helped him find a surgeon for his top surgery. Sure, it happened in a garden shed, sure he paid with one of his kidneys, which was removed during the same surgery, sure the scars it left him with were horrific, after several bad infections. But it had happened, that mattered more to him. He had gotten what he wanted in the end, he thought.

“Jesse.” Gabriel appeared in the doorway, still looking angry. “Get your ass up, it’s time to go.”

**Author's Note:**

> OOF YALL, I've tried to construct a Mccree origin story a couple of times before (in fact in my work history is an old attempt) but out came Blizz with NEW LORE (tm) so I had to go back to square one and here we go! I don't know how long this will be but I hope to update chapter to chapter of a story where Jesse goes from a tiny feral to a (slightly) less feral (slightly) well-adjusted dude. More to come! I hope you've enjoyed!


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